Edward Snowden, the 29-year-old defense contractor who leaked classified documents on U.S. government surveillance programs, revealed himself Sunday afternoon in interviews with the Guardian and the Washington Post.

Snowden, an employee of Booz Allen Hamilton for the past three months, moved to a Hong Kong hotel on May 20, after accessing a trove of classified information from a government office in Hawaii with the intent to reveal information on the controversial classified programs, the Guardian reported.

Last week the British paper revealed details on two classified programs — one pertaining to the seizure of all telephone metadata in the U.S. and another dealing with an effort to monitor Internet activities overseas using the resources of American technology firms. The Post revealed information about the second program, called PRISM. Both papers confirmed that Snowden passed them the information.

1. Snowden was previously a technical officer for the CIA and worked at the National Security Agency (NSA) as an employee of Dell, a private contractor, before being hired by Booz Allen as an infrastructure analyst for the NSA in Hawaii.According to the Guardian, Snowden told supervisors he was seeking treatment for epilepsy and told his girlfriend he would be away for a few weeks before traveling to Hong Kong along with the government secrets he hoped to release. Snowden told the paper that he decided to come forward with the documents because “I don’t want to live in a world where there’s no privacy and therefore no room for intellectual exploration and creativity.”

2. Snowden voted for a third party in 2008, he told the Guardian, but believed in Obama to put an end to some of the surveillance practices.
Instead, after a review Obama continued the program, according to administration officials, adding in additional layers of review to prevent abuse. Snowden told the Guardian that he “got hardened” after he “watched as Obama advanced the very policies that I thought would be reined in.”

3. Snowden claimed vast powers to both initiate surveillance and shut down the U.S. programs.“I had full access to the full rosters of everyone working at the NSA, the entire intelligence community, and undercover assets all around the world,” he told the Guardian. In a video posted on the website, Snowden claimed that “any analyst at any time can target anyone … I, sitting at my desk, certainly have the authorities to wiretap anyone — from you or your accountant, to a federal judge, to even the President.”

Additionally he claimed he said he could shut down the entire system in an afternoon if he wanted to. The revelation that Snowden was a contractor with that wide-ranging access to some of the most closely guarded U.S. government programs is sure to provoke a re-examination of the explosion of contractors filling traditional government jobs in defense and intelligence agencies.

4. Snowden told the Post “I’m not going to hide,” but his future is uncertain.
Hong Kong and the U.S. maintain a bilateral extradition treaty, but it includes exceptions for political crimes. It is unclear how the Chinese government, which maintains significant influence in the Special Administrative Region, will react to Snowden’s presence or how it will treat him. He told the Post that he is seeking “asylum from any countries that believe in free speech and oppose the victimization of global privacy.”

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence said Sunday that the investigation has been referred to the Department of Justice. Among the possible outcomes: U.S. officials could choose to interrogate him for details on the classified information he acquired, Hong Kong could turn him over to the U.S., or he could be granted him asylum.

Maybe it's OK if they ONLY catch real terrorists, but knowing the reputation of THAT government, one can not trust it. And if we say OK now, then what happens later? Later we will not be able to call President any name, not even a coward name. People in USA can call USA President any name, because US President is a puppet (marionette), but if you call the "Elite" (real people in power) some name, you may be in trouble.

I say this to US Govt. - do whatever you want, (I did not vote for you anyway cause I'm not part of it nor a citizen, I come and go) but leave me alone, and that is what they do - they never bother me, because I do only small and good positive things, but I am insulted knowing that, when I am in USA, someone may be listening to my phone and reading my emails, even if I am not afraid, because I have nothing to hide. Only must be afraid of INSANE people.

And what is worse, that they read emails of people oin other countries? Really? So if I'm German they will read my emails if I live in Hamburg? And how does German Govt. allow this?

BunnyOlesen: your argument, calling me an idiot, displays your brain size. I will not continue debating with retards like yourself. Just a note to other readers: Bush = 9/11 Inside Job. If you are a MEME PATROL (disinfo troll) - stay away.

Why just Obama? Bush was the worse..... so if Snowden guy exposes Anti-constitutional abuse of US democracy, why would he be treated as criminal? Only by criminals, that is.... but if he truly broke the law of a TRUE democracy, hen he should be arrested.

Snowden exposed criminals who severely violated our const'l, fed & civil laws. Protecting himself from their corruption (some with violent tendencies) is smart. If he was "hiding" he would not continue reporting the details of such corrupt crimes as he has. Just because the criminals are too stupid to break down his protective defense strategy, doesn't mean he is "hiding".

He had top secret clearance - thus he did have access to all these "high level" gov't officals' accounts/info. As a high level IT employee, am sure he could monitor their actions. It's a mode of "quality assurance" (self monitoring) to keep "moles"/spies out of the nsa/cia.

Calm down Coalie...there is no proof that Snowden did affect the security of the USA...in the contrary, his honest revelations exposed the arrogance and the double standard of the US Administration, like for instance spying on the Chinese. He left a well secured and highly paid jod because his conscious dictated him to tell the truth and ike Bradley Manning of Wikileaks, he did not sell any of his revelations to the ennemies of USA...Unfortunately and like the undemocratic countries of Syria, Egypt, Libya, Russia, China, to name a few, the US authorities are behaving exactly the same as these undemocratic coutries by wanting to put Snowden in prison - the same for Bradley Manning - for telling the truth and exposing the illegal activities of the US Administration. As a Swede and like the 500 millions citizens of the European Union and the citizens of the free world, we are thankful to Snowden for exposing the NSA spying on our emails, phone calls and on our privacy...For us he is an honest and couragous hero...To conclude : The illegal activities of the NSA is a breach of Internatioinal Laws...

Let us stick to the point. The Guardian and Washington Post articles are completely honest in presenting what Mr Snowden chooses to say. They have an absolute Constitutional right to publish any information they obtain by whatever means. However, Mr Snowden is clearly some kind of hacker geek who has spent so much time in basements illuminated by display screens that he does not know about anything else in the whole wide world. A person who has a clearance and wants to blow the whistle has recourse to the members of the Congressional Opposition who are cleared as he is for that information. He can also appeal directly to the President by letter. It is, by law, the President who decides what to declassify when, not some contract SA who has been in maintenance for too long. The reason we classify stuff like this is so that the targets, people who have declared themselves at war with us, do not gain any advantage from knowing what we know and how we know it. The Constitutional rights of United Stats citizens are being protected by the FISA judges, eleven of them, chosen not by the President nor the Congress but by the Chief Justice of the United States, from the sitting Federal bench. Mr Snowden did not have to know about that. Here it is - of course there are people sitting at computer consoles in the world who have the power to invade our privacy to the extent the interconnects make possible. That is what you get when you go to all digital all wireless communication. The more stuff hooked up, the less privacy there is. At this very minute, everyone on-line has absolutely no privacy whatsoever from the SAs in the machines along the way, from where you sit to where the stuff you see resides. There is at least one omnipotent user on every single machine out there, and the only way to truly secure a system is to not connect it outside the room in which it sits. In some countries, much of the network infrastructure is government monopoly. Here, at least, it is a regulated but private market. It is not the government that is spying on you here, it is your fellow citizen, and everyone who has anything to sell which they want to make you buy.

Snowden claims authorities in a technical, not legal, sense. System Administrators are really maintenance workers, but they must necessarily have near omnipotence over the contents of the system. In a classified environment, SAs sign documents that require them to tell no one about what they learn about the system and what it can do. It is a lawful employment contract under which the cleared employee explicitly gives up freedom of speech and agrees to serve a decade in prison for every substantive violation. As an SA, he has no idea what bureaucratic process is involved in allowing an operator to use those "authorities" to perform research on any individual. A great deal of what NSA has always done is capture everything they can, everywhere, and sift through all the "foreign" stuff. The cannot tap land lines, but they can record every bit of radio frequency communication that exists, minute by minute, and then slice and dice that later according to intelligence requirements and applicable law. The more wireless the world goes, the less is hidden from the NSA. The NSA is one of the three or four customers for "the most powerful computer in the world." It is the only way they can sift through what they capture for any possible bits of valuable intelligence. However, you have to specify what to search for or you don't get any results! NSA operations always involve some additional lead - a name, a number, a location, already associated with adverse actions against the United States by other intelligence. The lead is used to scan the data to find whatever else is connected, but the lead has to exist and the warrant has to so state and the FISA court has to approve. Anybody caught going behind the FISA court's back can get sent to jail. Actually, someone already made that plot into a movie!

Snowden, in my humble opinion, was doing his constitutional duty when he outed our govt spy program. These programs did not need to be classified. If terrorists don't think we are watching their every move, then they're probably not real terrorists. These programs were classified in order to prevent the public from knowing about them. With Obama's record on 'transparency' I wonder what else we will be privy to. The Whistleblowers are coming out of the woodwork in droves. I see Obama as a Muslim, wannabe dictator and the really scary part is that we have people who are willing to help him.

What he did was basically, treasonous. His action negatively affects the security of this nation. Put him in prison for life.

Many of you posters are amateur conspiracy theorists and UFO believers, like Mr. Snowden himself. Don't like what the government does to protect your freedom? Please feel free to relocate to another country where pedophilia is accepted and equality is non-existant. Derp

Edward Snowden was looking for his "3 minutes of fame". Hopefully he gets a lifetime in jail. He has put every American Citizen in danger with his narcissistic behavior. If you refuse to be screened at the airport, unwilling to have your phone calls (numbers only not content) monitored as to whether or not repeated calls are made or received by a person suspected of plotting terrorism or annoyed that your firearm needs to be registered you are hiding something.

You're the Meme patrol, or maybe just crazy. George Bush took office in November 2000. 9/11 was less than one year later. That attack took YEARS to plan, but you think it was his plan? Learn to COUNT.

The concept for 9/11 was presented to Osama Bin Laden in 1995. Actual planning began in 1996. In December 1998, the Director of Central Intelligence Counterterrorist Center reported to the president that Al-Qaeda was preparing for attacks in the USA, including the training of personnel to hijack aircraft.

Who exactly was the president in 1995 or 1998? NOT BUSH! Maybe you should look it up, stupid. He wasn't even in office while the entire thing was being planned, and I would not be surprised to hear it was planned that way to make conservative republicans look bad.

@bonteheuwelkhayelitsha You're an idiot. What do you mean 'why just Obama, Bush was worse.' Back it up. How was Bush worse. The patriot act? The one Obama vocally condemned while sleeping through his lame single Senate term? If it was so terrible, why has Obama signed to keep it in place where it remains? Have you read the ten thousand times worse than the Patriot Act defense act that the Obama Administration wrote up? It gives them the legal right to assassinate American citizens and to 'detain' people indefinitely without right to an attorney or a trial.

You're insane or incredibly STUPID if you think Bush was 'the worse'. I'll go with incredibly stupid, your comment is barely literate - of course you believe anything the television tells you.

@HypatiaLeigh1 Everyone knows that Boston Bombing was staged, so is Snowden case related to the Criminals in the government? Why 9/11 the Inside Job was not investigated and why do we still get sprayed by CHEMTRAILS in the sky?

@SamSweden USA is not a democracy anymore. Has it ever been one? 9/11 was an inside job, so was the Boston Marathon Bombing - staged. So were many other events. In addition to the the usa is spraying chemtrails onto our heads in many countries of so-called west. There is no democracy and democracy in its present form is a joke.

@vdpphd He never would have made it there. Lots of people with any kind of 'testimony' that would affect Obama or his family's reputation have ended up dead.

There's a difference between online privacy (because I am typing this on a public forum) and having the NSA 'seize all telephone metadata' - you do understand the difference, right?

Classify what? That they are violating the constitutional rights of everyone in the U.S. who has a telephone? It's not 'regulated' in any way that protects us from zealot and fascist government entities who have no right to obtain any and all information about us. This is no different than intercepting paper mail, or tapping a phone - it's just EASIER and that shouldn't make it 'okey dokey'.

If you believe all that hocum that they actually classified their unconstitutional and illegal acts SECRET for our own safety, then I have some nice swampland for sale, plenty of space for building that house of your dreams.

"However, Mr Snowden is clearly some kind of hacker geek who has spent so
much time in basements illuminated by display screens that he does not
know about anything else in the whole wide world."

His voluptuous girlfriend who likes to discuss philosopher and play chess half-clad must have just fallen through the slits of basement windows, I suppose.

You are evidently a historical illiterate. According to you, Christ Jesus would be a heretic because He repudiated the interpretation of Mosaic Law by the cadre of Pharisaic and religious leaders of His day for a plain rendering. The same would go for the Martin Luther and the Reformers against the Roman Magisterium that had made New Testament Scriptures unrecognizable. The Nuremberg trials took advantage of the Weimar Constitution, which had not been abrogated by the Nazis, to try War Criminals; after Nazi leaders and judges had likewise contorted its meaning. And it is quite evident that the current Washington priesthood has likewise waxed the Constitution into a language of thought that only they are privy to.

I understand the necessity for rule of law.

However, when the governors have themselves become the lawless ones, one cannot merely insist that we must go pleasantly into that good night of dark oppression and persecution. A full manifestation of the architecture of oppression is eminent. The use of such critical tools or organs of state, as demonstrated by various politicized bureaucratic agencies, is being tentatively and increasingly exploited. Snowden, regardless of motive or lawfulness, exposes the much greater evil. Indeed, his crime, from the standpoint of the State, is less that he has abetted and given comfort to the terrorists but that America has been justly discredited to its allies; who if they are wise, will distance and seek alternative security and socioeconomic relationships to counter that country, which is currently the gravest threat to humanity and its aspirations.

"As an SA, he has no idea what bureaucratic process is involved in allowing an operator to use those "authorities" to perform research on any individual." Have you read any of the things Snowden has said? Snowden had the means to get authority to spy on or wiretap anybody. It's this very power that he finds issue with and it's a big reason he is spilling gov secrets so the public can know.

@BTeboe These programs shouldn't even EXIST, much less be classified. 'Seizing all telephone metadata' and that without any kind of warrant or permission or justifiable cause - just 'all phone information on every person' - and that is SO wrong, it violates the constitution in so many ways.

You're right when you said he was doing his constitutional duty, because the constitution makes it known that citizens should not obey unjust rule.

@Coalie No, it was not 'basically' treasonous, it's not treasonous at all. What the government believes they have the right to do is what amounts to treason. You can't protect something you NO LONGER HAVE, I can't believe how contradictory your statement is. Freedom to do what? I can't even walk down the street without being mugged by an illegal, screamed at by activists or listen to the biggest hypocrites on the planet talk about how the death penalty is wrong, everybody should be equal, just not people like me - white, conservative, and with a differing opinion.

I live in Sweden where noncitizen asylum or refugee immigrants rob and rape 15 year old girls and aren't put up for deportation for reasons like 'he hasn't spoken to his family for a year, it would violate his human rights' or 'he doesn't have an apartment set up yet, it would violate his human rights' and a violent brutal rapist in England was not deported because 'it violated his human right to a family life' even though he didn't have even a girlfriend and no children (which is all that rule is for). They are from countries that are pretty bad, but in which they themselves are not in any particular group that is persecuted.

In the meantime, an asylum seeker who displayed 'racism' (allegedly, they couldn't even understand what he said - they said his body language 'displayed' racism) was shot basically out of a cannon back to a country in which he probably would be tortured or killed.

What the government of the United States did or is seeking to do violates the constitution in almost every conceivable way.

If they want to protect our 'freedom' by taking it away - then they are insane and so are you for believing it. That is not protection, that is CONTROL.

They could protect it a whole lot better if they would just shut the door, kick out all illegals and stop allowing muslims from countries that want to kill us to live with more freedom to privacy than WE have!

@Coalie Let's hear your logic on how we're less secure right now in contrast to a week ago...

Did all the terrorists with an IQ of 16 decide not to post their plans to Facebook? Text their buddy on their Verizon business account? Any reasonable human would assume organized terrorists would AT LEAST assume their communications are being watched.

Or, perhaps you want to shed light on why the DOJ is blocking the release of the FISC ruling that many of the Patriot act applications are unconstitutional? Sounds fishy. Perhaps you should read up a bit, mate.

Psychologists of the USA and Canada are for the legalization of pedophilia. When discussing the law about pedophilia in the canadian Parliament in people with mental disabilities in sexual found defenders, who called pedophilia "sexual orientations on a par with homosexuality". And in the United States, meanwhile, there is a special organization, which fights for the legalization of pedophilia.In the USA there is the organization of "B4U-ACT", which purpose is legalization of pedophilia, informs Lifesitenews.http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/academic-conference-seeks-to-normalize-pedophiliaThe organization consists of many "respected" psychologists from Harvard, the University of Illinois and Louisville. They called pedophiles "people who involve minors" and claim that criminal prosecution of such individuals "unscientific". Representatives of "B4U-ACT", as well as their canadian-minded, believe pedophilia sexual orientation.

@BunnyOlesen@bonteheuwelkhayelitsha Dear Meme Ptrolman, tell this silly reasoning to old womne and toddlers...... no intelliegnt person will even listen to your nonsense... you're not going to make a good disinfo troll.

@BunnyOlesen@bonteheuwelkhayelitsha You know, some people are so worried about their phone conversations being listened to. All the while many of them are here on the internet saying all kinds of crazy, insane garbage. Not realizing they live in a country where they can accuse their President of murder without worry of repercussion. Much of todays mentality is really scary. To put anything you want, no matter how insane on the internet, and then worry about your phone? That is just beyond rational thinking.

21 American Embassies around the world closing down this weekend, because of intelligence being gathered to save American lives. I've seen how irate many of these people have made you. I cannot blame you one bit. I thank GOD that there are still some decent Americans left like yourself. Try not to let them bother you.

@bonteheuwelkhayelitsha@SamSweden First of all, the United States is supposed to be a Constitutional Republic, NOT a democratic country. TRUE democracies do not work, because individuals mean nothing and any group not in the majority can be completely destroyed - Egypt and Libya are prime examples. Obama calls them 'democracies' but the are killing all the Christian and Shiia minorities - because the majority made the 'vote'.

Anyway, shut up - you can't even speak english - what are you doing here if it's so awful?

@Sibir@Coalie In my humble opinion PEDOSEXUALS should receive death penalty. Yet PEDOPHILES are very nice people, because they love children in not a sexual way. Stop using "pedophile" as a bad term. Use "PEDOSEXUAL" instead!! Grandmothers, parents, Michael Jackson, many people are loving children innocently in an asexual way, no sexual, just love the kids, and help them, not touch them in any sexual way. Those are pedophiles. Now those who rape kids, teenagers, molest them in all inappropriate ways and have sex with them are PEDOSEXUALS, see the difference? USA is a sick country, the West is sick. Stop using the term pedophile and begin using term PEDOSEXUAL!! I'm not even attarcted to chikldren in any way, sorry, but I am not, but I think many wonderful people love children in many innocent ways, and those are the Pedoophiles (Love Children Innocently and Cared For Them). Michael Jackson in that sense was an avid and innocent Pedophile! But he was NOT a pedosexual beast! No way! STOP using "pedophile, paedophile" term and begin using "pedosexual" instead. Nothing changes. The child rapists still remain criminal, but the terms changes to PEDOSEXUAL. Got it?

@MobileCasinoBoy@peterlean Could not agree more. Ignore the fact that a democrat is in office right now. It is far from the core of this problem. The shadow govt exists whether we elect a blue guy or a red guy.

@BunnyOlesen@bonteheuwelkhayelitsha@SamSweden Nice! The Anglos organise their language (English) to become international, then they attack non-native English speakers for not speaking English perfectly! OK! From now on we will post in languages you do not understand and you will have to learn them in order to read what we write! I speak 6+ languages, but not perfectly. How many languages do you speak, you crumbling piece of cow manure?

@Chungchiao@Sibir@Coalie I read an article written by 'experts' that referred to pedophiles as 'minor attracted individuals' and suggests we should try to 'understand them' and not send them to jail or anything, after all the prisons are really crowded, blah blah insanity.

'Minor Attracted Individuals' the new PC moniker of insanity bestowed upon us by 'people who know what's best for us and will make us accept it no matter what'. You know what I mean? I laughed out loud at the insanity of that disgusting word play 'minor attracted individuals'. HEY if they don't like pedophile, I'll call them what they are - filthy rapists and baby rapers. I don't accept it, I won't try to understand them and if they want to empty up some prison space - close the borders, return the illegals and let out white collar and/or people in jail for marijuana charges. NOT pedophiles.

@ScottTucker@dakinsky@Sibir@Coalie LMAO. Really? It's 'expected that they can remain offense free'? I thought pretty much every psychologist on the planet knows that it is almost impossible for pedophiles to remain 'offense free'. It's one of the reasons Germany also offers castration to certain pedophiles and repeat offenders, if they ever want to get out of prison that is. Well at least they used to.

@dakinsky@Sibir@Coalie Germany also made it illegal to home school your children and admit plainly that the reason is so the children will be 'forced' to accept multiculturalism and be 'forced' to go to school with a bunch of violent immigrant turks who assault, rob, threaten and harass them for being whites or christian. They will nullify your parental rights for homeschooling your children. It's become about the same here in Sweden.

There is one big difference though, in Sweden it seems to me that rapists and pedophiles get almost no jail time. As far as that goes, the immigrant muslims might beat an 80 year old Swedish woman to death and serve less than 2 years. It's disgusting.

@dakinsky@Sibir@Coalie Check your facts before you type. Germany is trying combat Pedophilia by using psychology and counseling. From James Cantor, an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto on CNN,com "The best example of this effort is the Prevention Project Dunkelfeld in Germany, supported financially by private donation. It began with a media campaign aimed at people struggling to resist their sexual interests to children. By offering counseling and other services, it is expected that they can remain offense-free. Hundreds of people contacted the Dunkelfeld project after it was established. People from all over the world, including Austria, Switzerland and England, turned to the assistance."